UBC enzyme technology successfully completes first human trial for universal organ transplants

A medical achievement out of UBC has the potential to make any organ transplant universal.

A new medical advancement out of British Columbia marks a major step towards helping thousands of transplant patients across North America. Recently, the first successful human transplant of a kidney converted from blood type A to universal type O took place utilizing special enzymes discovered by doctors at the University of B.C.

Dr. Stephen Withers from UBC told CTV News there is a shortage of type of type O organs for transplant. He added typo O patients “tend to wait longer on that transplant list.”

Dr. Withers and Dr. Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu discovered a practice which allows organ transplants across blood types.

“We developed this method for converting blood from A or B to O type,” said Withers.

This new discovery is significant as O type organs are universal donors. Dr. Kizhakkedathu said their new findings eliminate the “blood group barrier” that made it more difficult to match donors with patients with different blood types.

“If you can eliminate the blood barrier, and then the clinicians can find the right match,” said Dr. Kizhakkedathu.

Their research found enzymes that remove present surface layer A and B antigens, and convert them into O type antigens.

“It’s a little bit like if you were to rub the paint on your car, take off the surface layer of paint, you would expose the primer underneath,” explained Dr. Withers.

In a first in-human experiment, an enzyme-converted kidney was transplanted into a brain-dead recipient with consent from the family, allowing researchers to observe the immune response without risking a life.

For two days, the kidney functioned without signs of destroying an incompatible organ within minutes. While on the third day, the kidney showed signs of a mild reaction. However, after conversations with transplant surgeons their expertise highlighted that “they would be able to control subsequent rejection … by using the standard immunosuppressive drugs,” said Withers.

Both doctors explained, while in the past transplants involving different blood types have been performed, it takes a week to prepare the patient. The new finding demonstrated it can now be done much faster and without a living donor.

“The patient doesn’t need any significant preconditioning, but the organ itself just needs a treatment for one hour with our enzymes and that’s it.” said Withers.

Dr. Kizhakkedathu highlighted this could dramatically impact the length of the organ donor list. “The number of organs available for transplantation is going to be increased.”

While this is an exciting discovery, the doctors explained there is a long road ahead before it is available to the masses. Regulatory approval for clinical trials is on the list to tackle next. According to a press release from UBC, “the partner UBC spin-off company Avivo Biomedical will lead development of these enzymes for transplant application and to enable the creation of universal donor blood on demand for transfusion medicine.”